Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government
Veterans Benefits and Health Care About VA Find a VA Location

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Global assessment of functioning (GAF) ratings: determinants and role as predictors of one-year treatment outcomes.

Moos RH, McCoy L, Moos BS. Global assessment of functioning (GAF) ratings: determinants and role as predictors of one-year treatment outcomes. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 2000 Apr 1; 56(4):449-61.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions


Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To assess the adequacy of global ratings of patients' psychosocial functioning, which are an integral part of the current system for obtaining multidimensional psychiatric diagnoses and are embodied by the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale as AXIS V of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). METHOD: We identified a sample of 1,688 patients with substance use disorders, many of whom also had psychiatric disorders; examined the determinants of GAF ratings; and focused on how well these ratings predicted patients' one-year symptom and psychosocial functioning outcomes. RESULTS: Patients' clinical diagnoses and psychiatric symptoms were stronger predictors of GAF ratings than was their social and occupational functioning. Moreover, GAF ratings were only minimally associated with patients' one-year psychological, social, and occupational functioning outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings raise serious questions about the conceptual and clinical value of the current standard method of assessing psychiatric and substance abuse patients' global functioning.




Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.